No Easy $ on NBA Contenders

It's definitely still looking wide open in the NBA title chase. As of this point it's going to come down to which team gets an unfortunate injury, or which star player steps it up come the playoffs. Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowitski, even Shaq could all help elevate their teams to the promised land. The West still claims to be the best.

One guy who definitely has elevated his play out West is Jason Kidd. When you see his recent assist totals at numbers like 17, it's apparent he's happy where he is, distributing the ball in a much higher scoring, potent offense with the Mavs. It would be pretty impressive to see Kidd break Scott Skile's all time assists in a game record this season.

The Pau Gasol-Kobe Bryant tandem also seems to be working very well in LA. Either Kobe's become a lot less selfish, or Pau Gasol doesn't complain a lot. Either way, it's been working nicely for the Lakers who are up top in the Western Conference. When you add Andrew Bynum back into the equation, the Lakers are that much better.

I hate to jinx Houston but they really seem to be in a "seen it before" almost Groundhog day like performance. We see flashes of how great T-Mac, Yao and the Rockets can be each season, then they falter, and get knocked out of the playoffs early. This season many analysts continue to place them in the candidates for NBA Finals team or champs.

Phoenix may still be a question mark. While many praise the Shaq move, they seem to forget the Suns lost a stat sheet filler with Shawn Marion. Having that "does it all" type player is always an advantage to any team. Lately the Suns couldn't seem to keep up with the East Coast favorite, Detroit Pistons, but the Suns were able to take out Boston. A question mark indeed.

Let's not forget the East because as much flack as they get, they will be sending a competitor to the Finals, and that team will not be a pushover. Lebron's new look Cavs are impressive now that Ben Wallace, Wally Sczerbiak and Delonte West have joined the crew. The knock had been Lebron was all they had going, and that he desperately needed a supporting cast. Now he has it, and that puts Cleveland along with Boston, Detroit and even Orlando as NBA Finals potentials.

At this point, there's no easy money made by betting on any single NBA team...so keep your wallets tight and stay tuned.